WikiLeaks to release new classified files

INTERNATIONAL

December 02, 2010

WASHINGTON - Officials at U.S. embassies and consulates are warning allies and combing through sensitive documents in advance of an expected new release of classified files from the Internet gadfly WikiLeaks.

The documents are believed to include thousands of diplomatic cables, the contents of which the State Department said could harm relations between the United States and other nations, jeopardize national security and risk lives. They could be released as early as this weekend.

Earlier this week, WikiLeaks announced it would soon make public a trove of documents seven times larger than the nearly 400,000 Iraq war files it released in October. The coming months will see a new world, where global history is redefined, the organization said via Twitter.

In response, the State Department began notifying its outposts, asking them to identify documents that could contain embarrassing or sensitive material, such as candid assessments of foreign heads of state or governments.

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The cables involve discussions that we've had with government officials, with private citizens. They contain analysis, department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said Wednesday. Inherent in this day-to-day action is trust that we can convey our perspective to other governments in confidence and that they can convey their perspective on events to us.

The documents, Crowley said, are going to create tension in our relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world. Both the State Department and the Pentagon have notified Congress about their concerns.

WikiLeaks said the Obama administration was overreacting. The Pentagon is hyperventilating over fears of being held to account, the organization said.

The London-based newspaper Al Hayat reported Thursday that the documents show that the Turkish government allowed money and weapons to flow across the border into Iraq in support of al-Qaida forces there.

Prior to the release of the Iraq war documents, WikiLeaks released a batch of files in July pertaining to the war in Afghanistan.